corporation Application September- 1, 1937, No. reacts This invention relates to hinged and adjustable side guards for beds and the like and to brackets for such side guards.

The principal object of.the inventionis to provide a novel side guard, having a new side guard bracket, which may be easily and quickly attached to and detached from the variously shaped horizontal outer members of bed frames and the like. 10 Another important object is to provide such a guard which may be disposed, in a rigid upright position, along the side of the bed, above the frame thereof or may be readily swung to a lowered position, out of the way, below the 15 frame. 3

Still another object is to provide a guard bracket, having latching and hinging means,

which means do not project upwardly to a position above a bed mattress or bed coverings. Such 20 means, which do project above mattresses and v the like, are frequently in the way, are apt to A injure occupantsof the beds and, because they project above mattresses and the like, may be too easily manipulated by the occupant. The 25 novel guard bracket herein disclosed is so disposed that children or patients, for instance, who should not manipulate the latching and hing-.

hand, a person at the outside of the bed may' readily manipulate such means, associated with the novel guard and guard brackets herein disclosed.

Another object is to provide-a novel bed guard having attaching means therefor which is particularly sturdy.

Still another object is to provide a bed guard which does not require lifting when the guard is 40 upright in order to latch it. in a rigid vertical position nor in order to unlatch it when it is desired to swing it to an out-of-the-way position. Another object is to provide such a guard, hav- 45 ing means for securing the guard to a bed frame, including adjustment screws or nuts, which are easily accessible to a person outside of the bed, since they extend outwardly of the front portion of the adjustment means. I

50 Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following detailed description; taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification and in which drawings:

55 Figure 1 is an elevation of a structure to which in Figure 4.

the novel guard is attached and secured in a guarding position. v

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a bracket, embodying a combined adjusting and bolting means, for association with a bed guard.

Figure 3 is a view partly in end elevation and partly in vertical section-ofthe means shown in Figure 2, attached as shown in Figure 1, to a structure having a channel iron frame.

Figure 4 is a view, somewhat similar to Figure 3, illustrating the means associated with the guard, attached as in Figure 1, to a structure having an angle iron frame.

Figure 5 is a rear elevation of the means shown Figure 6 is a fragment of the means shown in-Figures 2 to 5 inclusive, illustrating a bolt forming a portion thereof.

Figure 7 is asection substantially upon the line 1-1 of the means shown in Figure 4. In the drawings, whereinfor the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein similar referencecharactors designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter A may designate a structure, such as a bed to which the novel guard structure B is attached, which guard structure B may include the wall portion or guard element C and the attaching, adjusting and bolting means D for the guard element 0.

"The structure A, shown by way of example,

is a conventional bed, having a frame, including an outer horizontally disposed side member or rail ll,-raised above the floor and supported by a bed head I2 and foot l3. Upon the frame rest the springs M which, in turn, may support a mattress l5 The side member ll may be of channel-like cross section, as shown'in Figure 3, where there are two paralleling, inwardly-extending, horizontal flange portions l6 and I1 and 40 a vertical web portion [8 joining the portions l6 and" and facing outwardly. In other cases, the side member ll may be of angle-iron construction, as shown in Figure 4, where there is but one inwardly-extending horizontal flange portion I6 and a vertical flange portion is joining the portion 16 and facing outwardly. However, the novel meansD, to be later described, is adapted to be adjustably secured, as well, to other forms of side members associated with beds and the like, as will be readily apparenhafter said means D is described.

The guard structure B, which includes the wall portion or guard element C and the adjustable mounting bracket means D is preferably provided assembied.ssillustratedinl"iguresland3to6. However, the means D may be provided separately since it is quite readily attached to a suit able guard element.

As for the guard element C, it may comprise a tubular rectangular frame 23, having paralleling side members 2| and 22 and paralleling end members 23 and 24 joining the side members 2| and 22. The length of this frame 23 is preferably somewhat less than the length of the structure A, and the height of the frame may vary, but it is preferred that it be less than the distance from the surface upon which the structure A rests to the bottom of the side member Spaced apart uprigts 25 may join the side members 2| and 22 and be spaced from the end members 23 and 24. Depending upon the number of bracket means D employed with a guard structure C, the lowermost side member (designated as 22) is provided with a pair of perforations 23, with their axes substantially aligning and vertical. There are two of these axially aligning perforations for each means D employed.

The attaching, adjusting and bolting means D preferably comprises a bracket plate which includes a vertically disposed arm of plate portion 30, from the upper end of which may extend inwardly a horizontally disposed arm or rest portion 3|, so that the portions and 3| have an inverted L-shape. This arm or plate portion 33 is preferably provided with a vertically extending slot 32, spaced from the bottom of the arm or plate portion 30 as well as from the arm or rest portion 3|.

Associated with the arm or plate portion 30 is an upper V-shaped clamp member 33. Preferably, this clamp member 33 includes a horizontal slide portion 34, having a longitudinally extending slot 35, a downturned jaw portion 33 at one end and a downturned arm portion 31 at the other end. The downturned portion may be provided with a screw threaded perforation 33. So that the clamp member 33 may slide relative to the rest portion 3|, a pair of spaced apart guide members or pins 39 may extend through the slot 35 and be rigidly secured, in any approved way, to the portion 3|. Cooperating with the screw threads in the perforation 38 may be a thumb screw 40 which extends through the perforation and bears, at its free end, upon the plate portion 35.

Also associated with the L-shaped bracket plate isalower L-shaped clampmember including a slide orshankportion 4 I ,adapted to slide vertically over a part of the inner face of the plate portion 33. This slide or shank portion 4| preferably diifers from the plate portion 30 in being somewhat channel-shaped, as may be seen particularly in Figure '7, and to the web of which may be secured, in any approved way, such as by welding or soldering, a screw threaded projection 42,

. which extends from the outer face of the slide portion 4|, facing the plate portion 30. This projection 42 may comprise a machine screw, with the head thereof secured to the slide portion 4|. The projection 42 extends through the slot 32 in the plate portion 30 and is provided with a suitable cooperating means 43, such as a wing nut, so that the slide portion 4| may be fixedly secured in various vertically adjusted positions with respect to the plate portion 33.

To the upper end of the slide or shank portion 44 may be secured, as by welding, a horizontally disposed butt or jaw portion 44 paralleling and facing the arm or rest portion 3| and paralleling the slide portion 34.

Itwi1lbenotedinl'lgures3and4thatthearm or rest portion 3| is not as long as the butt or jaw portion 44 and that the free end of the portion 44 is'upwardly and inwardly turned upon itself sons to provide a hook-like projection 45. It will also be noted, particularly in Figure 5, that the greater portion of the upper clamp member 33 is to one side of the horizontally disposed jaw portion 44.

So that the slide or shank portion 4| will not swing from side to side, a guideway therefor may be provided. This preferably comprises a substantially U-shaped guide clip or member 45, with the central portion or web 4l-welded or otherwise secured to the inner face of the arm or plate portion 30 and with the flanges 43 extending from said inner face and disposed to either side of the slide or shank portion 4|, as may be seen in Figures 5 and 7. Preferably, this guideway is disposed at the bottom section of the arm or plate portion 30 and has an arcuate cut-out 43 in its upper edge to accommodate the projection 42. The web portion 41 of the V-shaped guide member 4t has a second function, for it spaces the slide or shank portion 4| from the arm or plate portion 30, although they may be in facing relation. Thus, when the means D is employed in association with an angle-iron side member N, there will not be any decided canting of the slide or shank portion 4| when the lower end of the vertical portion 13 of the angle-iron side member II is between the upper end of the slide or shank portion 4| and the arm or plate portion 33, as illustrated in Figure 4. From Figure 3 it will be seen that the central portion 41 of the guideway 46 interferes in no way with the functioning of the bracket means when em-- ployed with a channel-iron side frame member.

Supported at one vertical edge of the bracket plate portion 33, opposite to that edge portion carrying the lower clamp member, and projecting outwardly from the plate portion 30 as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 7, is a hollow upright or standard 53 preferably formed from square tubing and including upper and lower hingedly connected sections 5| and 52 respectively. The lower section 52 may be rigidly secured to the plate portion 30 as by welding as shown in Figure 7. The upper section 5|, when the sections 5| and 52 are in vertical axial alignment, extends upwardly above the rest plate 3| and is hingedly connected to the lower section 52 by a hinge 53 disposed at the outer or front wall of the upright whereby the upper section may swing outwardly and downwardly as shown in dotted lines in Figure 3 and is limited against inward swinging beyond a vertical position by abutment with the upper end of the lower upright section 52. The upper section 5| is provided in its side walls. and adjacent its upper end, with a pair of horizontally aligning openings 54 for receiving the lowermost side member or rail 22 of the guard frame 23. This lower side member 22 may be rigidly secured to the section 5| as by welding, and with the perforations 26 therein disposed axially of the section 5|. Provided in the upper end of the section 5| is a perforation 55 which axially aligns with the perforations 26 and slidably receives a releasing pin or rod 53 which is provided at its outer end with an eye 51 forming a hand hold. The inner end of the rod 56 projects into the hollow upper upright section 5| and isconnected to a locking bolt or plunger 53 which has sliding movement in the sections of the upright 50. This locking bolt 58 when in its lowered or locking position as in Figure 6, extends across the hinge line of the upright sections 5| and 52 and locks these sections in axial alignment so that the guard wall is held in rigid upright position. When the bolt 58 is raised by the rod 56 to a position wholly within the upper section 5| and above the hinge line of the sections, the guard wall is free to swing outward toward the operator and away from the bed.

So that this bolt 58 and rod 56 may be readily assembled within the upper section 5|, the lower portion of the rod 56 may be initially straight and inserted into a socket 59, formed longitudinally in the upper end of the plunger or bolt 58, as the latter is inserted into the open end of the section 5|. By drilling a hole in the front wall of the section 5|, substantially as shown at in Figures 2, 3 and 6, and drilling a hole 6| transversely of the bolt 58 to join the socket 59 when the bolt is positioned so as to align the hole 6| with the perforation 60, a suitable punch is inserted through the perforation 60 and hole 6| and being struck so that the rod is set, as shown in Figure 6, whereupon it will not become detached from the bolt 58.

The means D may be attached to the guard element C in several ways. For instance, the side member 22 of the frame 20 may be welded or soldered at the openings 54 to the means D or, even if not welded or soldered, the rod 56 will prevent both longitudinal movement of the guard element C as well as swinging movement thereof relative to the means D.

Preferably, for convenience, there will be provided left and right hand attaching, adjusting and bolting means D.

Various changes may be made to the form of invention herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bed guard mounting, an angle-shaped bracket plate providing a horizontal rest portion and a depending vertical plate portion, said plate portion having a vertical slot, an upper U-shaped clamp member slidable on the rest portion, a clamping screw for the clamp member, a lower L-shaped clamp member movable longitudinally and perpendicularly of the vertical plate portion, clamping means for the lower clamp member including a threaded member extending thru said slot, and means for supporting a guard wall on the bracket plate.

2. A clamp for attachment to an angle rail including a first flange and a second flange or to a channel rail including a first flange, a web, and a second flange, said clamp comprising an angle bracket including a first arm of a length less than the width of the first flange of said angle rail or channel rail, and a second arm of a length greater than the width of the second flange of said angle rail or the web of said channel rail, a

first jaw slidably carried by the first arm and extending therefrom for engagement with the first flange of said angle rail or channel rail, adjusting means for the first jaw, a second jaw including a shank portion disposed in inwardly spaced relation to said second arm and a butt portion extending laterally from the shank portion, said shank portion being movable longitudinally and perpendicularly of said second arm to position said shank portion in engagement with the second flange of the angle rail or to position said butt portion in engagement with the second flange of the channel rail, and adjusting means for the second jaw.

3. A clamp for attachment to an angle or chan nel rail, said clamp comprising an angle bracket including a first arm and a second arm, said arms for engagement with adjacent faces of a rail, an angular jaw including a shank portion inwardly of said second arm and a butt portion, means guiding said shank portion for movement longitudinally and perpendicularly of the second arm, said guiding means spacing the shank portion. from the free end of said second arm, and means adjustably connecting said shank portion and said second arm, said connecting means being spaced from said guiding means, for securing said butt portion in engagement with a rail, said shank portion being spaced by said guide means substantially parallel to said second arm of the angle bracket upon engagement of said butt portion with therail.